Monday, July 30, 2012

Giorgio Armani Fall 2012 Face & Eye Palette - Neo Brown

There are two new face and eye palettes offered with Giorgio Armani's fall 2012 collection, Easy Chic. Armani's description:

Neo Black Ideal for creating a highly sophisticated look. The easy to wear, sheer, beige blush illuminates the complexion for a naturally highlighted, incandescent complexion any time of day. Includes three, coordinating eyeshadows.

Neo Brown For a glamorous look that plays on nature’s palette of autumnal tones. The sheer rose blush is ideal for shaping the complexion with a luminous veil of rosy pink. Includes three coordinating eyeshadows.

I purchased just one, Neo Brown (#2) as I thought the shades would better suit my skin tone. The shiny black compact has a magnetic closure, and a kind of interesting and unique geometric shape. Both palettes contain an upper tier with a full-size blush/face powder and a lower tier with three eyeshadows and sponge applicators. These palettes are quite a departure from those of last year's fall collection Jacquard Woven, which some of you may recall.

The sales associate who helped me was wearing the shadows in the Neo Black (#1) palette, which contains a soft beige, a matte black, and an olive shade. The upper tier in the Neo Black palette has also been described as a face powder rather than a blush. On lighter skin tones I think it could work as a contour shade. For a look at the Neo Black palette visit Makeup4All, Glitter Geek, and Beautezine.

Other products included in the collection, but not featured here, are:

The palette is fairly sleek at about three-quarters of an inch in height and would be useful for taking along in your purse or for travel.

The blush is a beautiful rosy peach with subtle shimmer throughout. To give you a better idea of the color, I've compared it below with some popular MAC blush shades.

In the swatch above the color was applied heavily (also keep in mind, my skin is pretty darn light, so the contrast makes the color look more intense). Below you can see how it looks on the face when applied more moderately. For those of you who dislike shimmery blushes -- no worries, as the shimmer is not apparent on the face. The box describes this as a "sheer" blush. The color is soft at first but does build up with multiple layers. Overall, it's a very nice, brightening shade!

The three eye shades included are, from left to right: a light, shimmery, cool beige; a medium-dark, matte taupe-brown (referred to by Armani as Red-Brown); and a very dark, matte, espresso-brown. I think these shades should flatter a wide range of skin tones, but the look produced is definitely more cool than warm. Both of the matte shades are well pigmented and intense. The darkest, espresso shade can be used wet or dry as a liner. It is also nice to smoke out pencil liner or to set liquid liner. I like the shimmery beige as a lid shade or an inner-corner shade, but find myself wishing a pale matte highlight shade had also been included.

Since many of you are familiar with the neutral shades in Urban Decay's NAKED palette, I thought it might give you a good point of reference.

As usual, in sunlight, my camera has made the colors look warmer than they really are. I highly recommend trying these on in person before purchasing if you can, or checking other swatches on the web. The light shimmery beige is way less golden than it appears here and is actually more of a cooler toned grey-beige.

Went heavier on the blush than I normally would, but wanted to be sure the color showed up on camera!

Right shade (matte espresso brown): used as liner, and on outer half of lid

Giorgio Armani Eyes to Kill mascara #1

Face

Blush from the Neo Brown Palette

Bobbi Brown Natural Finish Long Lasting Foundation in Warm Sand 2.5

Lips

Trish McEvoy Bare lip liner

MAC Sheen Supreme lipstick in Supreme Style

I hope this is helpful to any of you who are considering buying this palette. It is lovely, but I would say it is not a must-have unless you are an Armani aficionado or like the idea of having shadows and blush all in one convenient package, which is what drew me most to this one. Otherwise, I think the shades can be closely duplicated with less expensive products.

39 comments:

Yay, yay, FINALLY:)) I have been searching for swatches & an opinion on this palette for days, if not weeks. And what better Blog could I have hoped for to find them on.THANK you!! I so enjoy your posts. After seeing the gorgeous look you did with the Bobbi Brown Twilight Shimmer Ink I had to have it & I'm pretty certain that the GA palette will find a place in my home too:)

Hi Buggsiebee, Thanks so much for the kind words! :) I stumbled across these palettes on Saturday at the mall. I walked away from the counter but kept thinking about this one and how nice it would be to have some nice neutral shadows and a pretty blush together in one package, so I succumbed to temptation and went back to get it! :)

Oh my goodness that is STUNNING! I am in love with that blush--it looks amazing (as usual) on you! I am not as wowed by the eyeshadow trio...I definitely don't want or need another set of neutrals--specifically in those 3 shades. But I just want that blush so badly...:/

Hi Becca, Thanks! I know what you mean about not needing more neutral shadows -- it seems like every makeup line, Urban Decay, Stila, Lorac, etc., has come out with neutral palettes in the last couple of years! I like having so many options, but in all honesty, I don't need any more neutrals for years to come... :)

Hi Perilously Pale, I found the blush works best over foundation. I wore it today on a bare face and it didn't show up as much -- it just needs a little something to adhere to, but it's probably just because I have super-dry skin. I'm loving the shade! :)

Hi Anonymous, I'm sorry I don't have the Summer 2012 blush/highlight duo but judging from swatches I've seen online, the blush in the fall palette looks like it might be a bit brighter and peachier than the summer one. :)

I think the price has made me stay away but if I'm already buying LMdB then what's stopping me, right? Yeah I always have to pack on the blush for it to show on film and sometimes it's still not enough! I really need to spend some time at the GA counter next time I'm at NM.

Hi Lexi, I've gotta be honest - I think it is definitely overpriced, but I guess we are paying for the luxury of the Armani brand. I think it would be a nice palette for someone who doesn't already own similar colors or someone who travels a lot. :)

I think you nailed it when you said that this palette is ideal for someone who wants neutral shadows and blush all in the same place. I think this looks lovely (and very pretty on you!), but the shades are relatively common and I would truly ONLY be buying it for the convenience factor. It would be a great piece to have also for someone who was just getting into makeup and needed some basics - in fact, it would make a lovely gift for just such a person!

Hi Dovey, thank you! Yes, they are a bit cool - the pale shade might be a bit like Urban Decay's Verve shade, which I saw in your Oyster and Sand post! :) This palette has come in handy so far -- I've been using it all week for work :)

Hello, and welcome! I'm a South Florida resident and a lover of nature and beauty with a passion for photography. I'll be sharing recent beauty finds, old favorites, and looks of the day, along with occasional random images of just about anything that catches my eye throughout my daily life.